Eagles Rumors

Brian Westbrook will have another concussion test today.  He must pass (whatever that means) to resume exercising.  He did not practice with the team today, of course.

DeSean Jackson did return to practice and will be playing on Sunday.  Macho Harris, though, did not practice and is listed as questionable.  If he can’t play, Sean Jones will take his spot in the starting 11.

All you need to know about what the Eagles really expect of Brian Westbrook on Sunday — they just announced that they nabbed RB P.J. Hill off the Saints practice squad.

Omar Gaither has been put on IR.  He is officially out for the season.

Kevin Curtis and Victor Abiamiri have already been ruled out for Sunday.

Other players missing practice today, but still expected to go on Sunday:  DeSean Jackson, Macho Harris, Darren Howard, and Dmitri Patterson.

During the short week it’s important to give players time to rest, so no reason to freak out at this point.

As we said yesterday, there is good reason to be skeptical of Andy Reid’s public optimism (he’s “counting on” Westbrook for Sunday) with regards to the star running back’s status for this weekend’s big game.

Westbrook suffered enough trauma to his brain that he was knocked unconscious.  That is a big deal, even before this year’s stream of reports about the long-term effects of concussions on football players.

How the tests go over the next several days will ultimately determine his fate for the weekend, but it would be a big surprise if he can go.

The DeSean Jackson injury wasn’t serious enough to even keep him out for the rest of the game last night.  Reid declared it a foot sprain in the post-game.

Brian Westbrook has a concussion.  How he progresses over the next few days will determine his availability for Sunday.  Reid said he won’t put him at risk.  It has become the norm to take at least a week off with a concussion, so we expect him to be out for Sunday.  But you never know.

Max Jean-Gilles missed practice today with a shoulder issue and is questionable for Monday night.  He has been a part of a not-so-effective guard rotation that we would welcome coming to an end.  Getting Todd Herremans back this week is a good start.

Kevin Curtis has had arthroscopic surgery.  Apparently there was some work to do, as Andy said the surgeon “snipped a few things” (very scientific, Andy).  Reid did not rule out Curtis coming back to the team this year.

Andy Reid announced today that Omar Gaither will need surgery for a Lisfranc injury suffered last week.  He will likely be lost for the season.  The acquisition of Will Witherspoon was indeed a desperate move.  The Eagles were fortunate that Gaither’s injury happened just before the trade deadline.

Other injury news — it seems like Kevin Curtis may also never see the field again this year.  He’s getting a second opinion on his knee.

Victor Abiamiri is likely to miss Monday’s game.

More to come…

They’ve acquired linebacker Will Witherspoon from the Rams for Brandon Gibson and a 2010 fifth round draft pick.

Witherspoon had been playing the weakside linebacker position for the Rams, but has also played the middle.

More details to come.

Update:  FROM Reid’s Press Conference –

Abiamiri has knee sprain.  Day to Day.
Peters has knee contusion and ankle sprain.  Day to Day.
Bunkley has rib contusion.  Day to Day.
Gaither has what is being called a foot sprain, but is getting evaluated further.

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Victor Abiamiri said after the game that he thinks he’ll be able to play next week.  It has been called a knee sprain.  But everything is pending the MRI today.

Jason Peters said the following after the game:  “I was blocking my guy, and I just got rolled up on,” Peters said. “I’m going to get it treated and get ready for Washington”.

Again, everything is pending the MRI.  As our friend BadgerVMD reported in the comments, Howard Eskin stated that the Peters injury is indeed serious.  We’ll have more answers today.  Keep in mind that very often with something like this, where there is smoke there is fire.  And there are many outlets reporting the injury as a bad one.

Omar Gaither’s injury appears to be definitively minor — a foot sprain that shouldn’t keep him out very long.

[Inquirer]

That’s the word from the Eagles’ Chris McPherson.

Update:  MRI’s tomorrow for Peters (knee), Gaither (foot), and Victor Abiamiri (knee).  Expect bad news for Abiamiri.  The other two are up in the air.

It seems Broderick Bunkley’s injury is not serious (relatively, anyway).

What a disaster.

Some great news if you’re concerned about the running game — Todd Herremans was out on the field today.  He was not involved in contact drills however, and it seems unlikely he’ll play this week.  Still, it’s progress.

Kevin Curtis was also back to practice today.  He’ll struggle to re-gain the starting role from Jeremy Maclin.  At this point it would be great if he can practice on consecutive days.

More to come…